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Private funding flows The Commonwealth Schools Assistance Bill passed the Senate in December on the last scheduled sitting day of 2008, after the Coalition Opposition agreed not to block the legislation, which allocates $28 billion to independent and Catholic schools over four years. The Opposition’s plan to block the Bill had threatened funding for this year. The Opposition had objected to a fund- ing condition in the Bill that schools would be required to agree to a national curricu- lum, details ofwhich are yet to be finalised. The Opposition had proposed a change to allow schools to teach an ‘accredited equivalent’ to the national curriculum. The Independent Schools Council and the National Catholic Education Commission, which have been involved in developing the curriculum, supported passage of the Bill. Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Education Julia Gillard called the Opposi- tion support ‘one of the most humiliat- ing backflips in Australian politics,’ but Coalition education spokesman Christopher Pyne said the Opposition only supported the Bill after Industry Minister Kim Carr said the curriculum would not ‘mandate particular classroom practices.’ ‘Senator Carr today put on the (parlia- mentary) record that the national curricu- lum would not mandate teaching methods, it will not mandate teaching techniques,’ Pyne said. ‘The reality is what you say at a doorstop or at a press conference is not something upon which courts rely to deter- mine the intention of government: they do use the Hansard to do so.’ Meanwhile, private schools raised their fees by an average of 7 per cent for this school year, with some, such as Lauriston Girls’ School in Melbourne, rising by as much as 14 per cent. Lauriston now charges $21,980 for a Year 12 student. According to the Australian, the nation’s most expensive school is Geelong Grammar, which now charges $28,886 for a Year 12 student, up 8 per cent on last year’s fee. Despite increasing government fund- ing for independent and Catholic schools since the mid-1970s that has arguably con- tributed to an increase in enrolments, non- government schools appear to have used government subsidies to reduce staff-to- student ratios rather than fees. New York state of mind Joel Klein, the head of the New York City (NYC) school system, was in Australia late last year as the guest of Deputy Prime Minister, Commonwealth Minister for Education and Klein fan, Julia Gillard, to explain how reporting individual school results can lead to school improvement. Klein was not, however, without his critics. According to Save Our Schools con- venor, Trevor Cobbold, National Assess- ment of Education Progress tests conducted by the United States Department of Educa- tion show that average student achievement in NYC has stagnated while state tests show both increases and declines, but no consist- ent improvement. Gary Stager, an educational consultant, Visiting Professor of Education at Pepper- dine University in the US, PhD graduate from the University of Melbourne, journal- ist and blogger, meanwhile, wrote in his blog, Stager-to-Go, ‘(rather than) “share his reform experience,” I might have sug- gested (Klein) visit Australia to learn a thing or two about education.’ ‘The Rudd- Gillard government...may accomplish what their conservative political opponents never dreamed of,’ he wrote. national news 27 In brief Gaza crisis Israeli attacks in January on two United Nations schools in Gaza run by UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) led to 48 deaths. According to International Committee of theRedCrossDirector of Operations Pierre Kraehenbuehl, ‘There is no doubt in my mind that we are deal- ing with a full-blown and major crisis in humanitarian terms. The situation for the people in Gaza is extreme and traumatic.’ Thousands of Palestinians sheltered in UNRWA schools during bombardments. UNRWA says it had provided GPS coordinates of all its installations in Gaza, including schools, to Israeli authorities. According to ABC Radio, about a third of those killed in the conflict are children, with most deaths the result of Israel’s ground offensive. Bridging the digital divide Global not-for-profit organisation, One Laptop per Child (OLPC), has distrib- uted more than 500,000 XO laptops in 31 countries. Now OLPC Australia is working with governments in Australia and the Pacific region to provide more of the laptops developed by OLPC to help primary school-aged students learn and connect to each other via the internet to bridge the digital divide. OLPC Aus- tralia is also seeking your support to provide laptops for students in rural and remote areas, including Aboriginal communities and the Pacific Islands. LINKS: www.laptop.org.au/participate